Free Creeping with the Enemy by Kimberly Reid Page A

that—completely exposed. It’s something you could only tell a real friend.
    â€œIf it helps, you were a lot better at dating than I am, and I have some experience.”
    It was true. She knew just what to say, managed to make her guy feel smart and interesting while being smart and interesting herself. Instead of focusing on the lies Cole was telling, I should have been taking notes.
    â€œThanks—it does help. I really like Cole.”
    I stand up and walk over to the corkboard with its oddly unexpected mementos and missing the ones you’d expect to see, and pretend to look at it as though I’m seeing it for the first time.
    â€œYou don’t really want me to tell you what I think about Cole, do you?” I ask. “You never did.”
    â€œNo. Especially now because I have a feeling I’m not going to like it.”

Chapter 7
    I did keep my opinion to myself, though I’m even more worried about Bethanie than ever. No wonder she’s falling for the guy. Cole would be hard not to fall for even if he weren’t good-looking and completely charming. Work that magic on a girl who has never been on a date, and it’s all over for her. Not unless I can come up with a way to make her see that’s all the more reason to slow down. Which is also what I wish Lana would do at this very minute. She’s giving me a ride to school and while I appreciate not having to take the bus, I’d also like to hold on to my breakfast. Lana drives like she’s still a uniform cop on her way to a bank robbery. It’s especially bad this morning since she’s running late for an early meeting with her boss. I figure a conversation might remind her that her only child is in the car, and she’ll take it a little slower.
    â€œLana, have you ever had to tell a friend bad news about a guy?”
    â€œEvery woman has to at some point, if she’s any kind of real friend.”
    â€œSo you’re saying I should do it?”
    â€œIf you care about her. I told my best friend in high school that her boyfriend had come on to me. I gave her the exact words he used. I can’t remember them now, but he made it clear what he was about.”
    â€œAnd she broke up with him?” I ask, noticing Lana does seem to be taking it easier on the turns.
    â€œNo, she broke up with me. Being honest doesn’t mean she’ll take the news the way you hope.”
    â€œShe believed him over you, even though y’all were girls?”
    â€œOne day you’ll fall in love and learn just how stupid it can make you, at least at first. Sometimes the love is worth being momentarily stupid; sometimes you figure out it wasn’t at all.”
    â€œWhen I told Michelle her boyfriend was a loser, she didn’t take it very well.”
    â€œBut you turned out to be right.”
    â€œYeah, but everyone on the street knew Donnell was a loser, everyone except Michelle. I didn’t feel bad at all about busting him.”
    â€œYou don’t have any evidence to show your friend about whoever the latest loser is?”
    â€œAll circumstantial. Barely even that—more like a hunch.”
    â€œYou might want more than a hunch before you go messing with love.”
    â€œI suppose. But what if my hunch tells me it’s urgent and that I don’t have time to get better proof?”
    â€œBelieve it or not, I remember what it’s like to be your age. Everything was urgent, and now I can’t even remember what half the fuss was about. Unless she’s in some kind of danger, you can wait.”
    Well, I don’t think Bethanie is in danger of anything but a shrinking bank account, so I suppose I should take Lana’s advice.
    â€œIt sucks that your friend dumped you because you told the truth.”
    â€œIt broke my heart. But, fortunately, she figured out that the guy wasn’t worth it. A few years later, I was a bridesmaid in her wedding to a guy who